SCO admission and a nearby hotel

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Mewcakes

Mewcakes

SCO c/o 2014
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Hi. I was finally granted an Interview (and sadly my only interview) at SCO today. I had read something about there being a hotel very close to the campus who even gives discounts for interviewing prospectives. Does anyone know the name of this hotel?

And 2nd question. I've read lots of interview reviews for SCO and the majority of them rated 10 (or 5 stars) for how well they did. But were there actually any people who thought they dominated the interview but were not offered admission? My gpa is considered "weak" and my oat is an average 330, but I have loooots of optometric experience in different modes of practice. Since I was offered an interview, does that mean that my academics/application specifics have survived their scrutiny and I don't have to worry about them holding me back at this point? I do well in interviews but since i got rejectione from the other schools I applied to due to academics, i'm hesitant to get excited.
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I stayed at the artisian on union. Its like 50 bucks a night. Its not the hilton its just old and cozy haha. But if its any indication I stayed there again when I went apt shopping. Its like a mile from school so traffic isn't a big deal the day of your interview.
 
I think the point of inviting someone with "weak" academics is that they see you are more than just a set of numbers. From what I understand, SCO really cares about personality and character, and the interview has emphasis on your optometric and extracurricular experience. --and I think it shows. I have yet to meet an odious person from that school. :D

Just based on your post, you seem like a confident, humble, well-spoken, rational, intelligent, and friendly person. I don't see why you won't do well, and I don't see why they would offer you an interview that you nailed --only to decide they don't want you after all. This is just my opinion. Hopefully others can back it up with some experiences or solid info.

By the way, I also just got my interview invite to SCO as well. They are my top choice, so I'm quite excited. I picked the March 19th date. I'm also interested in which hotels people recommend that are student-budget friendly. When I last visited SCO, my friend and I stayed at the Doubletree. We wanted to indulge a little bit, but we were also two lonely females in a questionable part of town and didn't want to take any chances. :p I don't think I can afford that this time around, and I will have a male escort anyway. I know the school sends a list of hotels, but I'd love to hear suggestions from fellow students.

Edit: I just checked out the Artisan. It looks great! It seems like it has a very cozy and unique atmosphere. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
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Thanks for the encouraging words. I was preparing myself to have to apply again in July so I'm just trying not to get ahead of myself. I'd still love to hear from people who have already interviewed at SCO this season.

And the hotel I heard about was suppsed to be Luke 2 blocks away from campus. I Guess I'll have to wait to see what kind of literature I get in the mail with my interview invite.
 
The hotel that you are thinking of is the Holiday Inn Express. I did not stay there when I interviewed (stayed with a family friend) but I remember reading about it and seeing it when I was there. It is very close to the school and when I had originally inquired about their rate they told me with the discount it was $110 or something around there.

If you have any specific questions about interviewing at SCO send me a private message. I would be happy to help. It was my first interview out of four and by far was my favorite! Good luck with your interview!!
 
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express that Rinny is talking about. It literally is less than a block from the school. You could walk there... if you wanted to! But it took us two minutes to drive over to SCO. The hotel was very nice! And they do give you a discount for interviewing at SCO. Just be sure you bring a letter or something to show them you were invited for the interview. (They made me print one out.)

Don't be nervous about interviewing either! It was so relaxed and EVERYONE was so sweet and encouraging! I know you'll leave feeling great! Good luck!
 
Yup, def do the Holiday Inn. it's right behind the school!

If you have any questions please PM me! :)
 
I interviewed last week and stayed at the best western GEN X Inn... ended up being around 80 dollars from what i recall... they are REALLY REALLY fast with responses! i interviewed on friday and found out i was accepted today!

In terms of the interview mine was SUPER conversational... my guy only had 3 questions he asked me and spent the rest of the time talking about the school... It ended up being more of a discussion and me having to kind of respond and throw in my experiences. it was tough in that I found i forgot to mention alot of stuff i wanted to.... but it was really super easy going. it was my first one so i was super nervous. everyone was GENUINELY nice. one thing u may want to prepare for is the meeting with the adviser. Im not sure about anyone elses experiences, but the guy who went over my file first made sure i met all requirements and then after that actually asked me questions about some of the stuff that i wrote about in my personal statment... so maybe be prepared for that.

in talking with some of the other people who interviewed the same day as me, apparantly the interviewer is given a list of questions he/she is supposed to follow. remember it is a CLOSED file interview... My interviewer knew only my name and the state i was from.

the toughtest question i faced and wasnt prepared for was probably being asked what struggles do i see myself facing as an optometrists say 2 or 3 years after graduation...

all that being said, just try not to be nervous. be confident in ur responses and maybe try and discuss with the interviewer than talk at them. everyone is super accomadating and is genuinely nice!

good luck and hope it goes well!
 
I interviewed at SCO back in the fall, as my first of several interviews. I was nervous to have them first since they were one of my top choices; however, I found their interview to be extremely comfortable and laid back. Everyone there was SO nice!

I also stayed at the holiday inn express for my visit, and I highly recommend it. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about your lower than average grades. Mine too were lower than average, with an average OAT score, and yet I was accepted and will most likely be attending there next year! If they offered you interview, they are obviously interested, and all that optometric experience really helps.

Relax and Good Luck! Hopefully I'll see you in SCO c/o 2014!!!
 
OD4me what was your Gpa and Oat scores? Did you have lots of experience to make up for lower grades?
 
What time of day are sco interviews scheduled?
 
i too have an interview this month at SCO.. also have one at Nova..

Can't wait!!

I have visited/ toured SCO last year, and everyone is so nice.. Nice to visit this time for an actual interview.. I'm pumped!!
 
Thank you to everyone for your replies! They're very helpful.

cloud99, when I called to schedule my interview, I was given the choice of 3 different times: 8:45am, 9:00am, and 12:30pm or something like that.

Same here, DawgOD, they really impressed me last time I went, so I'm thrilled to be back for an interview, and more BBQ! :D Good luck everyone!
 
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My GPA was a 3.15, dont remember all my OAT scores exactly, but my average was like a 330, had high science scores, but my RC and QR brought my average down. I also had lots of optometric experience in several offices including a summer intership with the ophthalmology department of a well known clinic.
 
I'd say im about 90% sure i'm going to SCO. There are a few things I need to think about more before I make a definite decision.
 
I interviewed at SCO about two weeks ago and stayed at the Best Western GenXinn which is literally a 2 minute walk to the school. I just called and asked for the SCO rate and it was $79 a night. The interview is super relaxed and everyone is really nice, so don't stress out about it. I got a response about 9 days after the interview.

Good luck!
P.S. Have some BBQ at Rendezvous!
 
S A M said:
I stayed at the Red Roof Inn, less than a mile from the school. When I went outside to the vending machines to purchase a bottle of Pepsi, three black kids walked up to me asking for bus fare money. Hell, at least they asked... Having my 135 lb shredded physique being observed by three 200 lb + black kids, I gave them $3.00 and thanked the Lord I wasn’t shot or stabbed when I re-entered my hotel room that evening. I quickly realized Memphis wasn't for me. Growing up in Perfect Town, Pennsylvania surely didn't help me in this situation.

I think everyone in the South speaks another language anyway. I couldn't understand a damn word anyone said at the hotel. Yikes...
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It’s a lucky thing Perfect Town, PA prepared you to properly profile people and their intentions. Luckier still that these black kids were off duty, and were required to ask for bus fare, because normally while being typical black kids they would’ve just stabbed you for the bus fare. My oh my, what would you do if a little black lady asked for your seat on the bus? Or if a black man sought eye treatment from you in the future? Good thing you’re not going to Memphis where the town is overrun with black kids on homicidal killing sprees thanks to their lack of bus fares. Maybe Philly is the right kind of place for perfect-town kids to get away from all these troubling kind of people…

In the future, I hope you advertise your perfect-town optometry practice as unfriendly to people with Southern accents and black people who take the bus (or just black people generally).
 
GDR said:
It's a lucky thing Perfect Town, PA prepared you to properly profile people and their intentions. Luckier still that these black kids were off duty, and were required to ask for bus fare, because normally while being typical black kids they would've just stabbed you for the bus fare. My oh my, what would you do if a little black lady asked for your seat on the bus? Or if a black man sought eye treatment from you in the future? Good thing you're not going to Memphis where the town is overrun with black kids on homicidal killing sprees thanks to their lack of bus fares. Maybe Philly is the right kind of place for perfect-town kids to get away from all these troubling kind of people…

In the future, I hope you advertise your perfect-town optometry practice as unfriendly to people with Southern accents and black people who take the bus (or just black people generally).
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I don't think he meant it like that.
 
S A M said:
I think everyone in the South speaks another language anyway.
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We actually have a course that teaches ya'll northerners to speak the ways of the south :D
 
S A M said:
three black kids walked up to me asking for bus fare money. Hell, at least they asked... I gave them $3.00 and thanked the Lord I wasn’t shot or stabbed when I re-entered my hotel room that evening.
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Apparently I didn't understand this statement. Could you better explain how "hell, at least they asked..." (implying they might not have normally), three black kids, and getting shot or stabbed are connected in a non-racist context?
 
GDR, I'd be right behind you, if it weren't for the fact that I'm all too familiar with SAM's sense of humor from reading his other posts. I can also assure you that I don't think he meant it that way.

Although I'm not one to be tied down by political correctness, a little more tact wouldn't hurt. :rolleyes:

jymezg said:
We actually have a course that teaches ya'll northerners to speak the ways of the south :D
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We spent a whole week on regional dialects/accents in America for one of my Linguistics classes. It was probably the most fun and most useful thing we ever learned! :laugh:
 
Raidersfan!! Hi!

Anyways, a good friend of mine is from tennessee and when he gets really excited I can't understand him if my life depended on it. But he's high a lot (for medical reasons, he's like a 50 yr old guy with two false hips and pins all over the place) so that probably doesn't help.

My bf's grandma, however, is from Alabama and I <3 her accent and her 1950s phrases. Even though I'm Chinese and I love my gma, for some reason his gma seems like what a gma SHOULD sound like. Offering me fried chicken and pie and
everything. :p
 
I get what she's saying SAM. She's talking about old fashioned traditional southern grandmas! They are seriously the best. I love mine. :D
 
Mewcakes, when I read your post, I had this mental image of my own Chinese grandmother trying to offer me fried chicken and pies and I laughed out loud. Such a strange sight to see! But one thing all grandmas have in common is that they're always trying to get you to eat! :oops:

Where I can adopt a sweet old lady to be my southern grandma??? :p
 
i know i'm a little late in replying to this, but maybe it'll help someone in the future searching through this thread.

i stayed at the pilgrim's hostel (http://www.pilgrimhouse.org/Pilgrim_House/Home.html). i got the recommendation in an e-mail sent out by the dean so figured it's legit. im a female, and went by myself..and for $20 for a whole room to myself, it was an extremely economical stay. it's between the school and airport, so the fare wasn't too bad. furthermore, i never really felt like i was in any kind of danger, or scared for my life at all lol.

just putting that out there for anyone else on a tight budget or thought about spending a night there
 
lnh said:
GDR, I'd be right behind you, if it weren't for the fact that I'm all too familiar with SAM's sense of humor from reading his other posts. I can also assure you that I don't think he meant it that way.

Although I'm not one to be tied down by political correctness, a little more tact wouldn't hurt. :rolleyes:



We spent a whole week on regional dialects/accents in America for one of my Linguistics classes. It was probably the most fun and most useful thing we ever learned! :laugh:
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I've found your other posts agreeable, Inh, but this one I cannot. Tact is not what was needed - tact is merely a skill in how to say something to a difficult audience. Bedside manners require tact; being racist has no way of being polite. (SAM still has not explained himself, simply saying "I didn't mean it that way" without saying what way he meant it. I think my last post says it all.)

What's more interesting here is not what SAM said, but that no one seems to have a problem with it. In a way, anyone could have said it and gone without much notice; it matters little that SAM's form of "humor" (again, in this context, how can one be tactful with racist humor?) was this individual incident.

While SAM and others may grow out of their comments, they will stay here for others to see. I just hope that one day these posts do not catch up to SAM and others like him in the real world.
 
Thanks for your kind opening words! Actually when I told SAM to have more tact, that was exactly what I was hoping for: No direct racial referencing.

What's "humorous" is the image of a boy from "Perfect Town" finding himself in a situation that seems very intimidating because he is sadly unequipped to deal with it--both physically and mentally. He was just trying to express why he felt Memphis was a bad fit for someone like him, and frankly if that's how he's going to react to people innocently accosting him for bus fare, I would agree. I think he could have easily conveyed the same message without the racial references because I know the focus was not on the fact that they were black (although I can see why it looks that way), hence my suggestion that he have more tact (aka consideration for the feelings of others).

I'll let SAM explain himself if this is incorrect. I've just been on the forums a lot lately and SAM is quite prolific, and so you get to know people after reading so many posts. He can be a bit of a hothead sometimes, but he's not unfair and I really don't think he would be intentionally racist. That was just my attempt to staunch what could potentially have been a huge racial debate. Again, that's just my impression. SAM, if I am wrong then by all means speak up. That way GDR and I can happily teach you how to properly profile people and their intentions! S'bout time you learned, boy! ;)

This is a forum and we're just a bunch of people sitting around talking and sharing experiences. I'd like for everyone to be able to do that without worrying too much about stepping on toes and being politically correct all the time. I know that may sound like a petty excuse to stop being considerate, but I stand by what I said. I hope this answers your question. If you have more to say about my idea of "being funny" and "politically correct" I think I can explain it better over PM.
 
GDR-
Just so you are aware, I also found SAM's post to be racist, and I'm white. I'm sure others read it and felt this way as well, but chose not to reply or add fuel to the fire. It's not my battle to fight - you are doing a good job of getting your point across. Just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only one on here that found it offensive.

Whether or not SAM "meant it that way" is irrelevant. I think it's going to be good for SAM to get out of Perfect Town.
 
Not only was Sam's original post amusing, but it was simply him recounting an actual event..... Three 200 lb. kids (regardless of race) asking me for money, heck I'd be put on edge..... Anyone who seriously is offended by his post, is just not being sensible or reasonable. He didn't say ONE offensive thing about blacks in that post. Had I been in that situation (and I have been in MUCH worse before) I would have been mentally prepping myself with the fight or flight mentality.
 
cloud99 said:
GDR-
Just so you are aware, I also found SAM's post to be racist, and I'm white. I'm sure others read it and felt this way as well, but chose not to reply or add fuel to the fire. It's not my battle to fight - you are doing a good job of getting your point across. Just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only one on here that found it offensive.

Whether or not SAM "meant it that way" is irrelevant. I think it's going to be good for SAM to get out of Perfect Town.
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:thumbup: I also found his comments to be both racist and unprofessional and I am a white female. I understand that he may have been in a "bad area" and I may have felt scared myself in such a situation, but this story could have been told in a much less offensive way. If Memphis scared him, I'm pretty sure Philly will too.
 
I agree with GDR as well. I didn't post anything earlier because I didn't want to start anything. But I just wanted to let GDR know that there are more people than you think that came to this thread and thought Sam's thoughts were racial and offensive. I'm asian and have been a victim of racial profiling, so it is only appropriate, necessary to speak more professionally in this forum, giving respect to others.
 
I think SAM meant no harm, but some comments should remain left unsaid.

I may think a lot of things, but out of respect, will keep them to myself.
 
Rinny said:
:thumbup: I also found his comments to be both racist and unprofessional and I am a white female. I understand that he may have been in a "bad area" and I may have felt scared myself in such a situation, but this story could have been told in a much less offensive way. If Memphis scared him, I'm pretty sure Philly will too.
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Less offensive????? I'll level with you here. ALL he said regarding the kids' race, is that they were black. That's it. All of you who are being 'offended' are, I think, trying to tie in the 'black' part with the 'scared they were going to rob him' part. If I were put in EXACTLY the situation Sam described, I'd be afraid I might be mugged (and QUITE POSSIBLY injured). And I'd be thankful if it turned out they weren't going to do that, and that they truly only wanted bus money. Rinny, GDR, and cheriemousse, with all due respect, his post was NOT out of line. It's one thing to say he could have said things with 'more tact' but it's quite another to say his comments are "racist and unprofessional". You guys just don't get it.......... And I doubt you ever will, unless god-forbid you actually are confronted with a potentially dangerous situation, the kind that I have unfortunately had to experience a number of times.
 
Rinny said:
:thumbup: I also found his comments to be both racist and unprofessional and I am a white female. I understand that he may have been in a "bad area" and I may have felt scared myself in such a situation, but this story could have been told in a much less offensive way. If Memphis scared him, I'm pretty sure Philly will too.
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Memphis is the second most dangerous city in the United States as per facts and statistics from msn. Philly may not be paradise but it is no where near Memphis.
 
achirum said:
Memphis is the second most dangerous city in the United States as per facts and statistics from msn. Philly may not be paradise but it is no where near Memphis.
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Yeah and its the third most miserable city to live in. Memphis deserves two thumbs down. I never feel unsafe though, you just have to act intelligently around here.
 
JMU07 said:
Yeah and its the third most miserable city to live in. Memphis deserves two thumbs down. I never feel unsafe though, you just have to act intelligently around here.
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Yes, but naturally I feel like that can be pretty much applied to all cities. There are always some areas that are worse than others, that need extra precaution.

I've never been to Memphis so I won't pass judgements.
 
achirum said:
Yes, but naturally I feel like that can be pretty much applied to all cities. There are always some areas that are worse than others, that need extra precaution.

I've never been to Memphis so I won't pass judgements.
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You're exactly right. People just blow Memphis out of proportion due to it always being at the top of lists like that. The majority of the crime is not next door to SCO anyway, it's in other parts of the city.
 
I got accepted into SCO!!!!!!!!! :soexcited:
 
thanks..

I never thought in a million years I would be turning down an interview (NOVA), and telling another school no thanks (AZCOPT)...

I'm excited!! Joined the Facebook class of 2014' group and everything.. lol.
 
JMU07 said:
Yeah and its the third most miserable city to live in. Memphis deserves two thumbs down. I never feel unsafe though, you just have to act intelligently around here.
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Yea i've never felt unsafe, even wandering downtown at night. Now the way people drive here....different story haha
 
jymezg said:
Yea i've never felt unsafe, even wandering downtown at night. Now the way people drive here....different story haha
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so true! I have NEVER experienced driving like this anywhere else... that is for sure.

Congrats, Dawg! :)
 
DawgOD, how long between your interview and your acceptance did you wait? Did you just get a letter in the mail or did they email/call and tell you?
 
Interviewed on the 19th.. a Friday.. got a call on the 23rd.. a Tuesday..

This is my calling..
 
DawgOD said:
Interviewed on the 19th.. a Friday.. got a call on the 23rd.. a Tuesday..

This is my calling..
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Congrats!!! I was accepted on Jan 13th and then my son was born the very next day. It was an amazing week. Made my final decision to go there recently so I will see you in August.
 
My interview is on Friday. So nervous. It's my first interview of the season! (or ever, fir that matter...lame :p)
 
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